Trick-or-Treat
by SE46 Mantis
Summary: To be honest, Halloween wasn't exactly Skyla's favourite holiday of the year. But at least Elesa is always a comfort. Airplaneshipping (Skyla x Elesa), fluff. Happy Halloween to all.


_Author's Notes: A bit late for actual Halloween, but better late than never. Enjoy_

* * *

Truth be told, Halloween wasn't exactly Skyla's favourite holiday. It was a fun concept, sure, to dress up in outlandish and ghoulish costumes and roam around in search of candy, playing tricks on the unwary and overall having some night-time fun with friends, family and Pokémon, but it just wasn't quite Skyla's cup of tea. Not because she didn't like candy (she loved the stuff!) or that she was scared of the dark or anything like that. It was just that….

Well, she was easy to scare. Very easy to scare.

It didn't take much to prompt a scream from her, it wasn't much effort to make her tremble in fear, it was the easiest thing in the world to rile her nerves and make her eyes twitch and have her hair stand on end. There were children who had better steel in their nerves than her. And it was very frustrating, because she knew she was easy to scare, and so did everyone else.

And thus, she was always the first one to be picked to test a new prank on, or shown a particularly shocking sight in a box, or get someone jumping out from behind her. Every Halloween party that the ex-Champion Alder hosted ended the same way for Skyla; a night full of constant tricks and scares that often ended with her quitting early, flying back home and going to bed with frustration and remnants of panic riddling her every thought.

Take last year, for instance, when Clay had taken off his hat only for a Sandile covered in blood (it was actually ketchup) to jump out and screech at her. Everyone had jumped at that, sure, but she'd been the only one who'd had to rush to the toilet amidst their laughter when her bladder nearly failed her in response to such a fright. Or the year before that, where Roxie, celebrating her recent elevation to Gym Leader status, had hidden under the table and poked her head out underneath Skyla's chair and waited for that wonderful moment when the pilot happened to glance down.

When she did, Skyla had nearly screamed the whole hall down and had to sit outside for a few minutes to calm herself down whilst everyone had a good chortle at her expense. At least Roxie had had the heart to cheerfully apologise to her for such a scare, unlike Clay and his cheeky Sandile.

So that's the basic gist of it; Halloween was essentially a delightful excuse for everyone to take advantage of her weak nerves. The pilot could brave even the worst weathers in her beloved plane, could blast around her gym with the old cannons without a care (well, not anymore, since they'd been replaced) and would gladly take on any challenger in a Pokémon match, but the one night where scaring your friends was the top priority? She was no match.

Hence why she was currently curled up on her sofa, clad in her bright blue pyjamas, a big blue blanket and some pillows wrapped around her, a bunch of junk food and fizzy drinks cluttered on the coffee table and some overtly cheerful movie playing on her TV. No Halloween party with the other Gym Leaders for her tonight, no constant scares and tricks; just a snuggly couch and some sweet treats and some old movies.

A part of her did sneer that she was overreacting, that hiding in her house while everyone else had a good time at the party would accomplish nothing in the long run but prove to the others what a scared little girl she was. And what a party it would be tonight, since her best friend, partner in crime and occasional focus of romantic thoughts and blushes Elesa would be hosting the annual Halloween gig, and she always served up the best parties.

After all, Elesa was the Queen of Nimbasa, the most eccentric and excitable city in Unova, a place of lights and games and music and fun, and when she was given the reigns for a major party, she went all out. Skyla honestly wouldn't be surprised if Elesa had arranged a whole horde of those Kalos Ghost-types, the Pumpkaboos or whatever, in place of regular old pumpkins and had the whole city shining in that specific fashion that if you were to look at it from a bird's eye point of view, it would look like a gigantic evil face or something.

She felt a little bit guilty at having to tell Elesa that she wasn't coming to the big gig tonight; Elesa always adored having Skyla around at her parties, and few of them got bigger than the Halloween one, especially the one that she got to host, so she was understandably dejected on hearing the pilot was a no-show. But to be honest, the pilot really didn't want to know what kind of pranks, tricks, scares and ketchup-covered chaps the other Gym Leaders might have had planned for her, the frightful little cloudy girl.

Skyla huffed to herself, not at all amused by the frights her imagination was contemplating, and coiled the blanket around herself a tad tighter. Yes, it was better that she just chilled out in the comfort of her own abode tonight. She wasn't a yearly dose of laughs and amusing anecdotes for everyone less easily scared than her, no way, and if anyone had wanted to scare her tonight, they'd just have to find someone else to prank.

A nod to herself, feeling surprisingly invigorated by the brief notion of Halloween defiance, before she snagged a donut and returned her thoughts to the film, regarding which she'd honestly quite forgotten what the plot was about-

_DING DONG!_

She jolted in surprise with a quick gasp that ended up with crumbs scattering on the floor when she registered the sound of the doorbell ring. Quickly regaining herself, she fought to free herself from her blanket cocoon, squeaking: "Coming! Be right there!"

Gulping down the rest of the donut, she managed to get off the couch, seize a bag of sweets just in case it was a trick-or-treater or just someone she felt like handing a bag of sweets and darted out of the living room, through the corridor and stopped right at the door. Opening it up, she looked down to see the two nice kids who lived nearby, the small boy and his even smaller sister who often asked for Aerial Ace TM's, with their wee Ducklett happily quacking next to them. Both kids were in full Halloween get-up, the boy looking quite good as a pale ghost wrapped in some thin sheets and the girl honestly adorable with face-painting in the guise of a cat on her face.

"Trick-or-treat!" They happily stated, the boy holding up a pumpkin-shaped container as they grinned widely and expectantly at her, the girl immediately repeating the statement a few times.

Skyla just smiled, endeared by their childish joy and replied: "Oh wow, great costumes, you two! I think you've both definitely earned a treat for that!"

"Thanks, Skyla!" The boy chirped, preparing to open the container as she fished out a handful of sweets for them. "We heard you weren't going to the big party in Nimbasa, so we thought you might have liked a visit."

"Aw, that's very sweet of yo-"

As she leaned down to pass them the treats, he opened the lid and instantly a Sewaddle poked its head out and squeaked loudly. Skyla shrieked in complete shock as she flailed backwards in surprise, her body freezing up after two steps backwards upon registering the harmlessness of the little Bug-type, and the two kids started laughing at her quite impressive reaction.

Not a monster trying to eat her, just a little Pokémon acting the part of prankster, giving happy little chirps as the kids continued to giggle at the pilot. Such simplicity in concept and yet as effective in scaring her as near everything else.

Skyla sagged and gave a deep breath, before shuffling forwards and weakly chuckling, a hand patting her chest in a futile effort to calm her heart: "Alright, that was a good one, you sure got me."

"Sorry, Skyla, but we just wanted to see if the trick could work!" The boy replied cheerfully, accepting the handful of candy she offered him. "Thanks very much for the sweets! Have a good night!"

"Good night, good night!" His sister parroted, and she bade them goodnight in turn as they turned and skipped off down the path. She closed the door, turned around, stood still for a moment and then leaned against it with a dejected sigh.

Great. Even the little kids were scaring her now. She really was awful at this Halloween business, so easily shocked and frightened and downright terrified, and now even the kids had more nerves than her. Oh sure, she knew she was an easy scare, but it still bit at her to be reminded over and over again.

Why was she so easy to scare? She got by her day-to-day life without constant frights and shocks perfectly fine, but when Halloween rolled around it all seemed to go completely haywire for her. Maybe because it was a potent devotion to scaring people, or maybe because it was the time when the truly terrifying films came out or maybe….

Ah heck, maybe just because she'd grown so conditioned to getting scared on Halloween that it was second-nature for her to be scared on Halloween because that's how it happened on every other Halloween and this was making her head hurt now.

Another sigh and she pushed herself off the door and dejectedly shuffled back to the living room. Maybe she could just curl up under the blanket and it'd turn out this holiday was just a bitter and particularly repetitive nightmare or something.

Urgh. She needed another donut and probably louder volume on the film-

_DING DONG!_

She paused, confused at hearing the doorbell ring again. It couldn't be the kids, since they'd already trick-or-treated her, but she couldn't think of anyone who'd want to see her at this hour (Well, half past eight wasn't quite that late, but hey ho). Curious, and a tad wary in case it was yet another scare waiting to jump out at her, she retracted her steps and headed back to the door. She opened it and-

"Surprise, Skyla! Happy Halloween!"

Her jaw dropped and her eyes widened in complete surprise: "Elesa?!"

It was indeed the supermodel, grinning very widely at the stunned pilot and looking definitely festive in her costume; a glossy and pitch-black tuxedo get-up with a blood-red shirt and ruffles, a long cape tied around the collar and rippling behind her in the light breezes, and cluthed in one hand was a swollen bag shaped liked a particularly fat Tynamo. All in all, she looked both amazingly gorgeous and quite ominous at the same time, and if the stunning attire alone didn't give it away, the (fake) blood-stained fangs protruding from her mouth certainly did; Elesa made as good a vampire as she did Skyla's best friend, which equalled to quite a lot.

"Code of undead conduct requires that I ask your permission to enter before I can even think of coming in." Elesa stated playfully, twirling on the spot to show off the full view of her outfit, before dipping into a polite bow, wearing quite the quirky grin that showed off the pretty realistic fangs. "So, may I enter?"

"O-of course, of course!" Skyla squeaked, promptly shifting to the side to allow the model entrance (and contemplating that old nightmare idea just in case Elesa had actually become a vampire out to drink her dry, which made her quiver). "I just didn't expect you, I mean, you're hosting tonight's Halloween party and-"

"Oh relax, Skyla." She replied cheerfully, waving away the pilot's concern as she sauntered inwards and waited for the pilot to close the door and follow her to the living room. "I left it to Drayden to manage it. After all, I couldn't leave you all alone on Halloween, so I decided I'd pop over and make it a sleepover!"

"That's very sweet of you- Wait, Drayden?"

"Yes, Drayden. He's a smart guy, he can handle hosting a party."

* * *

Drayden sighed with annoyance as he fiddled with the massive console that controlled the lights within the Nimbasa Musical Hall, the loud music and the hollering crowd throbbing through his brain as he struggled to switch the settings to a more eerie display like Elesa had told him to. But alas, this damn device was all switches and buttons and he really didn't know what would produce the desired effect and what would blow out every single bulb.

"Darn it, Elesa, couldn't you have just left me an instruction manual or something?" He grumbled as he cautiously fiddled with a switch that apparently controlled one of the red lights near the back of the hall, only to lose focus on it when he got distracted by Burgh tossing a cupcake at Chili's face. "I don't even- ARGH! OH ARCEUS, WHAT THE FU- ROXIE?! ROXIE, HOW DID YOU EVEN GET UNDER THERE?!"

"Ha ha, scared you!"

* * *

Elesa wandered into the living room, raised an eyebrow at the movie on the TV as she set her bag down next to the couch and idly stretched out her lithe form, clearly making herself at home. Skyla shuffled in after her, appraising her holiday costume, before asking: "Still, surely you'd have more fun back at the party? I mean, I'm not even doing anything, really, just watching some dumb films and… and stuff."

Elesa scoffed, shifting a hand up to pull off her distinctive headphones and setting them down on the table: "Skyla, a party is only as fun as the friends you party with. And what's a party to me without you? Not much. Besides-"

She suddenly adopted a rather seductive expression and Skyla found herself immediately flushing when she leaned in close to the pilot and purred: "What's a vampire without a sweet damsel to bite into?"

Skyla gulped a little, just a tad unnerved and a little bit wobbly at the knees and a bit of blush on her cheeks: "That's, ah, very characterful, yep, very good."

Elesa just grinned and winked at her, always so amused at how easily she could make the pilot's cheeks so red. With that, the model grabbed her bag and a donut and headed off to get changed, and the pilot found her night of resentful isolation turning into a promising sleepover. She certainly hadn't predicted this turn of events, but a part of her was immensely thankful that Elesa was taking the time to keep her company tonight. Granted, they did enjoy parties more when they were together, what with them being considered the dynamic duo amongst the Gym Leaders and enjoying each other's company, but Skyla had really thought Elesa would prefer a shining glamorous holiday swing to just lazing around with her.

Part of her was absolutely ecstatic, flattered, endeared and fluffy that she had been proven wrong in that regard. Another part just wondered if Elesa had a prank in store for her. She mentally told that part to shut the heck up.

Quickly, she headed to the couch and made a show of at least arranging the pillows and blanket into a more neat position, since she did have a guest now, as well as clearing away some of the crumbs and stuff. Gotta make everything like nice and tidy for her more dignified companion, yes indeed, and she should probably switch out the movie to something that the model would like. In terms of movies, they had fairly different tastes, but Skyla was pretty sure she had something they'd both like as she danced over to the DVD player and ejected the disc.

Hm, what would Elesa like? _The Pyroar King? Torchic Run? Crobatman? Unova Rim? _All very fun and good, but she figured _Unova Rim _might be the best choice; Elesa did adore gorgeous special effects in her films, so maybe-

"Hey, Skyla."

The model's voice was right at her ear and Skyla jumped up with a squeak as she was prone to do. Of course, she calmed down pretty quickly; it was only an amused Elesa after all, having changed out of her vampire costume and now wearing rather plain yellow pyjamas. But still, yet another reminder of her weak constitution, and that always annoyed her. At least if she'd still been dressed up as a vampire she'd have had a better excuse to get a fright.

So, she huffed and mockingly and softly whacked at the model's shoulder, earning a chuckle before Elesa said: "Sorry. Were you picking out a film? Because I bought some new ones today, and I brought them with me to see if you wanted to see how they are with me."

Well that was nice of her. Skyla smiled widely, immediately and curiously eager to see what offerings her friend had brought, and replied: "Sure! What kind of films did you get?"

Elesa rummaged through her Tynamo bag and pulled out a trio of cases, and Skyla's heart immediately stuttered when she noted from the covers that they were all horror movies. Uh-oh. That never bode well for a girl who was hoping to avoid a plethora of frights tonight.

Ignorant of Skyla's internal uneasiness, the model read out the titles: "I got _The Curse of the Zoroark, Final Gambit _and _Paranormal-type Activity. _They all got good reviews, I hear, though I think the Zoroark one is the scariest." She looked up and flashed a dazzling smile at Skyla, almost challenging. "Think you can handle it?"

Skyla hesitated slightly, awkwardly tapping her fingers together: "Well, I was kind of thinking… maybe… um, sure, sure I can. It's just a movie, right, not actual real monsters and stuff, so… yeah! Yeah I can do it. I can watch a scary movie!"

Elesa raised an eyebrow in amusement as the pilot jumped up and down in place, quickly and promptly and probably falsely pumping herself up. It was pretty cute to see Skyla determined to be brave on the one night she got scared more times than anyone else, and Elesa's smile widened knowingly.

"Alright, Skyla." She said cheerfully, shifting over to the player as the pilot bounced over to the couch and flopped down upon it, popping open the case of _The Curse of the Zoroark_ and inserting the DVD into the tray, which slid back into the device. "But if you do end getting a bit scared from this, you can always hold my hand if you want."

The pilot just huffed and stated she wouldn't need to hold her hand.

Predictably, Skyla needed a lot more than just holding her hand.

When the illusion dropped and the demonic Zoroark pounced upon its unlucky victim with a gruesome array of sound effects and screams, Skyla herself gave a loud scream as if she was the target of the monster on the TV and all but wrapped herself around Elesa, arms tightly wounded around the model's torso as she buried her head into Elesa's chest to escape the terrifying scene on the TV. Elesa just chuckled, comfortingly hugging Skyla back as the pilot quivered in terror and making sure the blanket was neatly wrapped around them. Horror movies were always fun, but she found them even more delightful with the nervous and endearing red-head clinging to her.

The scene didn't last long, and when the crunching of bones vanished, Skyla poked her head out and squeaked: "Is it gone, is that bit over, did it stop eating him?"

"Yes, you can look up now." Elesa replied, idly shifting herself against the comfy pillow she was leaning against, fondly stroking Skyla's hair as the pilot nervously shifted her eyes back to the TV. "Besides, it was only the idiot jerk it killed; they're always one of the first to get offed."

"I know, I know." Skyla grumbled, shimming up yet closer to the model in case she got another fright as they watched the surviving characters debate their options. "But it was still crazy; it just popped out of nowhere and, and… urgh!"

She shuddered slightly and Elesa just chuckled again. They watched the movie in silence for a moment, when the smart girl of the group suggested using Poffins to lure out the beast or something like that and it turned out that Poffins only made the monster Zoroark even angrier. As the gang fled from the enraged beast, Skyla, well-prepared to hide on Elesa again should the film take a turn for the gory, spoke up:

"You know, even if horror films scare me a lot, I really do appreciate you coming down to see me." She murmured, nuzzling her cheek on Elesa's shoulder as the model glanced down at her. "I know a big party might have been more your thing, and I know I suck at not screaming at every last little thing, but, really, thank you, Elesa."

Elesa stared at her for a moment, touched, before she smiled softly and gently kissed the top of her head: "It's no problem, Skyla. I'm always happy to spend time with you. Besides, it's only a party, and like I said-"

"Parties are only as fun as those you party with." Skyla giggled. "I remember."

"Plus, well, I actually kind of prefer this." The model stated, affectionately rubbing the other girl's back. "Curled up all snuggly and warm, all the party food to ourselves, just you and I. It's nice."

"I think so to-"

The Zoroark caught the unlucky squeaky girl and Skyla shrieked and pressed her face into Elesa's shoulder as the model burst into laughter at how goofy the blood effects were.

The film eventually ended with the smart girl summoning a massive Golurk to battle and ultimately crush the Zoroark in a furious fight to the death, and when the credits started rolling, Skyla finally saw fit to detach from Elesa and breathe a heavy sigh of relief, still quite shaky and pondering the Arceus-damned nightmares she'd probably be having later, but heck, she'd made it to the end without fleeing the room! An absolute improvement!

Granted, it would have been harder to stay put without a warm and comforting supermodel to hold onto, but take things as they come.

Elesa stretched out with a grunt of contentment, before she asked: "Well that was fun. Loved the twist near the end, that part honestly caught me by surprise. So, would you like to watch the other two or maybe something a bit less scary?"

Skyla quickly voted: "Something less scary, please."

The model grinned at her and nodded as the pilot jumped up from the couch, passed her a pack of crisps upon hearing the request and seized the case for _Unova Rim. _Nothing quite like an old-fashioned robot-monster showdown to ease her nerves, as bizarre a statement as that might sound, and besides, she was fairly sure she'd satisfied her quota for horror films tonight. Okay, granted, just one wasn't exactly a marathon, but good enough for her!

And then the credits for the horror film suddenly jolted into a jump-scare after-credit scene featuring another monster.

Elesa handled switching the discs around and setting up the next movie, smiling slightly to herself as she turned back to the trembling pilot curled up under the blankets. Skyla had made a good call in switching film genres; the model was fairly sure she might end up jumping through the ceiling next time if she got another scare like that. She chuckled, shook her head, and strode over to rejoin the other girl on the sofa, Skyla immediately snuggling up to her for comfort.

The second film started rolling, and as the opening title showed itself, Skyla murmured: "I was thinking… if it's alright with you, would it be okay if we did this again next Halloween? I mean, I know you really like the annual party, but I, I really like having you here with me and-"

Elesa hushed her with a finger to the pilot's lips and murmured: "If it makes you happy, I'm more than happy to do this again next year. It's not like Halloween's the only night we can justify a big party."

Skyla looked up at her in immediate happiness and bright blue eyes and wide smiles, and her profuse joy was potent to the point Elesa found herself widely smiling back in return, before Skyla eagerly curled up against her, giggling excitedly with the idea of getting to spend every Halloween away from the pranks and with her most wonderful friend ever.

"But-" Elesa added, adopting a playful tone now, grinning as felt Skyla suddenly tense slightly against her. "-Next year, you're gonna have to watch more than one horror film with me. Life's no fun without a good scare now and then."

"Well… sounds fair, I guess." The pilot grumbled, pouting into the model's shoulder. "I handled that one okay, right?"

"If by okay you mean squealing and hiding behind me every few minutes, sure."

"Elesa!"

The model laughed at how utterly high-pitched the pilot's protest was: "Don't deny it, high-flying girl. I think it's actually quite adorable that you just want someone to just hold onto real tight."

Skyla huffed and squeezed Elesa's torso slightly, earning a quick ruffling of the hair in retaliation: "Not my fault things are jumping out and screeching and eating people, Miss Shining Beauty. It gets so creepy and then it's crazy and scary and, and-"

"And you love holding onto me."

The pilot instantly flushed: "Well, um, you are pretty huggable, Elesa. Maybe your vampire powers are making me delirious…."

"Ha, good one Skyla. I think you're very huggable too, with or without vampire powers." And as if to prove it, she brought an arm and embraced her tightly, affectionately rubbing her head against the soft red hair, earning a small sort of purr from the other girl, before she said: "Now then, shall we pay attention to the lovely robots punching up some monsters?"

"I'd love to! Provided you stay huggable, right?"

"I'll stay huggable."

Skyla gave another giggle and snuggled up tightly to her.

Indeed, paying attention to robots punching up monsters was quite satisfying, Elesa had to say, especially when you were sharing the experience with someone oh so very close to you. Definitely an amusing change of pace from the other film, and Elesa felt actually quite pleased with that, since Skyla would at least be far more comfortable with it. But as the clock struck ten PM and the movie reached its half-way point, Elesa became aware of a sort of soft murmuring coming from the pilot, and glanced down to see what she was doing.

Surprise, Skyla had fallen asleep, an expression of blissful peace on her face as she gently snoozed away, arms still curled around Elesa and head using her chest as a pillow. The model was quite surprised that she'd fallen asleep so suddenly, considering the action was ramping up at this point on the film, but perhaps she'd just given into the comfort and settled down for an early night's sleep.

Quite frankly, it was adorable and Elesa found herself giggling now. Skyla was always so sweet and endearing, and her falling asleep whilst curled up to her on a couch at a sleepover just felt so darn wonderful. The pilot seemed completely at ease, breathing softly and softly shifting her frame against her, and Elesa wished she had her phone on her right now to get a picture of this.

Well, if she was asleep, Elesa figured she might as well hit the hay too. At this point, she was feeling pretty damn comfortable too, and she could always finish the film with Skyla tomorrow. So, with that, she snagged the remote from the table and switched off the systems with a tap of the buttons and immediately prepped the couch for the night's sleep. It was a tad trick to manoeuvre some of the pillows against the armrest with Skyla leaning on her, but she managed it.

Making sure Skyla's legs were on the couch instead of drooping over the side, Elesa laid down, head sinking into the wonderfully soft pillows and idly pulled the blanket over them. Skyla slept soundly through that, though she did give a soft murmur at Elesa's shifting and curled up against her more closely. Elesa just smiled at that, comfortably arranging herself next to the other girl and coiling her own arms around her, giving her another kiss on the head and lovingly murmuring:

"Happy Halloween, Skyla."

* * *

Burgh sidled up next to Clay, dressed nicely as a zombie and pouring himself a glass of punch, and perused the snacks, contemplating the array of treats before him, before a through struck him and he asked: "Remind me, where did Elesa go again?"

"Went ta' see Skyla." Clay replied gruffly, tentatively sipping the punch to check if Chili had spiked it again, and downing the whole thing when that wasn't the case. "She didn't want ta' come t'night, so Elesa went over ta' keep the gal company."

"Because she loves her, loves her so much!" Cilan chanted, somehow looking quite woozy and goofy despite having only drunk soda tonight, but they just ignored him.

"Oh yeah, Skyla." Burgh mused, idly picking up a pastry and forgetting he was wearing a mask when he tried to eat it. Solving that problem, he then asked: "Speaking of which, do you feel a bit guilty about her? I mean, everyone always pranks the poor girl on Halloween, and while it is admittedly kinda funny how easily she gets scared, do we ever think we've gone a bit too far when she doesn't even want to come to the par-"

Chili slithered up behind him and whispered into his ear: "I ate your Dwebble."

Burgh gave a scream of terror and immediately fled, shrieking about bug-eating monsters, causing both Clay and Chili to burst into laughter, the Fire-type Gym Leader immediately stating as he wiped a tear of laughter from his eye: "Aw man, Burgh gets easier to scare every year!"


End file.
